WINDHOEK, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's central bank on Wednesday kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6.75 percent, balancing subdued domestic economic activity against inflationary pressures and the need to safeguard the country's currency peg.
Bank of Namibia Governor Ebson Uanguta said the decision was appropriate to support international reserves and maintain the one-to-one peg between the Namibia dollar and the South African rand.
Domestic economic activity remained weak during the first half of 2026, with sluggish performance in mining, manufacturing, electricity generation and transport, while agriculture and wholesale and retail trade improved, he said.
Annual private-sector credit growth slowed to 4.5 percent in June, mainly due to lower credit uptake by businesses. Meanwhile, annual headline inflation rose to 4.4 percent in June from 4.1 percent in May, primarily driven by higher transport prices.
Namibia's merchandise trade deficit widened to 19.3 billion Namibian dollars (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2026 from 12.8 billion Namibian dollars in the same period last year, largely due to higher mineral fuel import payments.
The country's international reserves rose to 57.1 billion Namibian dollars at the end of July, equivalent to an estimated 3.5 months of import cover and sufficient to support the currency peg and meet international financial obligations, the bank said. ■